Basildon Council paid out more than £400,000 in redundancy payments last year following a restructure which was aimed at saving the council around £250,000.

The figures have been revealed following a Freedom of Information request and show that 41 people were made redundant by the council last year, up from just 12 in 2016-17.

This meant that compulsory redundancy payments for the financial year were £424,416 compared to £96,787 the previous year.

Two council employees also took voluntary redundancy in 2017-18, costing the council a further £18,829.

The total cost of the redundancies was £443,245 - the highest amount paid out in the past five years.

The changes are likely to have been a result of an extensive restructure which took place last year under a Labour-led administration.

It saw the council shift from a cabinet-style of government to committee and the removal of two other senior management posts in an effort to save the council £250,000.

Basildon Labour leader, Adele Brown, said: “As with any restructure part of the calculation done at the time was the cost of redundancies. The restructuring was looking at ways to make ongoing savings for the council which was important as we faced an £11.5million budget gap due to central government cuts and we managed to fill that gap.

“The decisions were very difficult as these are people’s lives, but we had to look at the best way of moving forward for the council. Sadly, efficiency cuts are now something that all councils are forced to look at.”

Labour also stressed that the changes were made for long term savings and a more efficient way of working.

However, the committee structure has been criticised for slowing down the decision making process.

Before 2017, the largest amount paid in redundancies came in 2013 when 26 employees took voluntary redundancy amounting to £331,726. One person was given compulsory redundancy that year at a cost of £9,585.

Data for this year was not made available however in July it was revealed that an unnamed senior officer was set to receive a severence package of more than £200,000.

Basildon Council didn't comment in time for publishing this story.